Chopper harvesters for sugar cane and similar products

Abstract

Improvements in chopper harvesters of the cut-throw type, characterized by the use of a cutting-throwing system consisting of two concentric revolving axles in the center of a static cylinder, the inner and faster axle driving the cutting knife and the external slower axle driving inclined and curved throwing vanes, with the cut billets of cane being thrown through a static inclined duct, fitted in it's upper part with blowers or extractors providing an horizontal air current blowing across said duct towards the rear of the harvester.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A sugar cane harvesting machine of the type for cutting sugar cane into billets, and throwing the billets from a cutting assembly through a static delivery duct having an outlet for ejecting the billets therefrom, wherein the improvement comprises: a cylindrical housing including inlet means for receiving sugar cane to be cut into billets, and an outlet means for ejecting said billets therefrom;   chopper-thrower means including:   a first axle centrally mounted within said housing along the central axis thereof;   cutting blade means rigidly mounted at one end of said first axle, the latter being rotational for rotating said cutting blade means past said inlet means for cutting said sugar cane as it enters said housing through said inlet means;   a second axle mounted over and wholly concentric with said first axle, said first and second axles being independently rotatable;   vane means rigidly mounted upon said second axle for rotation therewith for throwing said billets through said outlet means.   
     
     
       2. The improvement of claim 1, further including drive means for rotating said first and second axles each at predetermined speeds, respectively. 
     
     
       3. The improvement of claim 2, wherein said drive means rotates said first axle at a faster speed than said second axle. 
     
     
       4. The improvement of claim 2, wherein said drive means drives said first axle at a faster speed than said second axle in a predetermined speed ratio therebetween. 
     
     
       5. The improvement of claim 4, wherein said drive means drives said first axle at a speed three times that of said second axle. 
     
     
       6. The improvement of claim 1, wherein said cutting blade means includes at least one radial cutting knife. 
     
     
       7. The improvement of claim 6, wherein said radical cutting knife is displaced at an angle relative to its rotational plane that is optimized in view of the feeding speed of sugar cane into the rotational path of said knife, and the average rotational speed of a cutting plane circumscribed by the rotating knife. 
     
     
       8. The improvement of claim 1, wherein said vane means is mounted upon said second axle behind said cutting blade means relative to said inlet means. 
     
     
       9. The improvement of claim 1, wherein said vane means includes at least two vanes for upon rotation throwing said billets through said outlet means. 
     
     
       10. The improvement of claim 9, wherein said vane means further includes internal cylindrical shroud means rigidly attached via an inside face to and concentric with said second axle, said vanes being equally spaced upon and rigidly tangentially mounted to the outside circumferential face of said shroud means, for rotating said vanes thereon. 
     
     
       11. The improvement of claim 1, further including: a directional duct having an inlet attached to the outlet means of said cylindrical housing, and a discharge port for discharging said billets to a desired collection point; and   aerodynamic cleaning means mounted within the portion of said directional duct furthest from said cylindrical housing, for providing air current flow across the upper interior portion of said duct in a direction substantially ensuring the complete discharge of said billets from said duct, thereby maintaining a clean duct for the transport of said billets.